Autumn Breezes
by ScribeAssistant
Summary: Be it in an inescapable path to fulfill an ever-existing part or on a sea of probations that seem to fall upon those who least deserve them, two girls will learn that is only through hardships that life may steer them towards and apart from their deepest desires.


"Are you even paying attention Miss Rose?" The man elevated his voice to a bark, snapping Ruby's eyelids back open.

"It's due to exactly this kind unprofessional behavior that we are having this meeting, and I know _very well_ of you share of guilt in this." The man lowered his tone towards the end of the sentence, making no effort to hide the threat in his voice.

"I-I am sorry sir! It will not happen again!" She said while straightening her posture. She was so very tired and her muscles hurt from being awake through the whole night and all the until the afternoon, but the girl did her best to hide it.

"You can bet it won't, because if it does I won't even hear a thing about it! You had one too many slips already Miss Rose, please stop trying my patience."

A broken cup here, a forgotten broom there, a missed layer of dust or having to be called more than once. Small things that were starting to pile-up during her time on duty at the Schnee manor.

The Schnees would accept only the best, and their maids were no exception. Ruger, the bold, rude, slightly overweight man currently screaming at her was there to ensure that.

"That been said, Master Schnee informed me that several guests are to be expected through the next weeks, _very important_ guests, so the manor and all of you must impeccable at all times! Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!" The small platoon of maids and butlers answered in unison. Honestly, Ruger was barely different from a drill sergeant.

"Now, Ms. Violet had an accident earlier this day and won't be able to work tonight. Anyone would like to take her shift?"

"I will sir!" Ruby bolted her hand up without a second thought, which earned a raised brow from the man. By no means she was happy with whatever happened to Violet, the older woman having her own share of problems to deal with, but extra hours meant extra money, and Ruby would never let that slip.

"Are you sure you will be able to perform to the standards, Miss Rose?"

"Yes sir, I absolutely will. I wish to redeem myself." The tone, the verbiage… It all sounds foreign and forced on her tongue, but Ruby quickly learned that there was no room for anything but top politeness.

With a hum of appreciation and a small nod, the man closed the meeting. "Very well. You are all dismissed. Miss Rose, you have thirty minutes off."

"Do not disappoint me." He added before leaving the staff hall.

Those minutes were a blessing to her sore feet as Ruby dropped herself upon a chair.

She was exhausted, but that was only natural after being awake for over thirty-two hours, save for the occasional minute nap.

The girl would normally avoid working overnight when she had tests on the following morning, but the offering from yesterday was just too good to pass. It was supposed to be a quick cocktail at a fancy hotel, just a small gathering with past and current business partners, but the short reunion quickly breached the first hours of the day and Ruby, as a waitress, could not leave until the last guest had step out of the gathering hall.

Reaching home exhausted and with little more than an hour until her first class, sleeping was completely discarded as an option, so the brunette resigned herself to study the subject that she hadn't touched at all in the past week, be it for lack of time or energy.

Right now, there wasn't a single drop of eagerness on the girl to see her score. Seeing it wouldn't improve her performance in anyway, but her already plummeting grades wound surely remind her of today by the end of the month.

The girl quickly fell into unwilling sleep before she could torture herself with the subject any longer. Not that there was any time or comfort for her to get any actual rest. After what seemed like mere seconds of darkness the alarm on her phone ringing painfully. It was time to work.

And time made itself excruciatingly present, minutes dragging like hours as Ruby performed her tasks mechanically, nearly crawling from one room to the next, with her small basket in tool.

The manor was _huge_ , each room having about the same size of her apartment and less than a fraction of the utility. Dining rooms, meeting halls, living rooms, _sitting_ rooms - was there even a difference? - offices, guest rooms, the list went on and honestly, Ruby probably spent more time cleaning those spaces than the family spent using them. Every decoration and every piece of furniture was absurdly expansive, money spent for show and status, not for comfort.

"And that is all for tonight..." Ruby thought out loud as she resisted the urge to lay down on the recently polished floor and make up for the lost sleep right there and then. The girl was completely drained, every muscle on her body begging for rest. No matter how much she needed the money, she sworn to herself to never go on such an extended journey again. Not that she would keep that promise...

The brunette left the huge dining room and started her way through the main hall back towards the staff backroom.

Passing in front of the double staircases - another monumental waste on her opinion - that led to the upper floor, she wondered if every room was as sterile as the ones she spent the night into. She still wasn't allowed into the "private areas" - Mr. and Mrs. Schnee personal offices and the bedrooms. She actually spent as little time in the upper floor as possible, afraid off running into one of her employers.

Their glacial demeanor was enough to make her nervous just from being in the same room with one of the elder Schnees. She could not predict what would become of her nerves under their continuous gaze, let alone in a conversation.

Not that they would ever talk to her. Most of the time it was as if the staff was immaterial, just ethereal forms rovering in and out, bending to their will.

"Oh, there you are Rose! Are you done with your tasks for the night?" Ruger called out to her from behind, making the girl turn quickly to meet his questioning.

"Y-Yes sir, I'm done with the common areas as instructed" _so many_ common areas.

"Good, that means you have time. Miss Schnee asked for a late tea to be delivered to her room. It should be ready by now, so go wash yourself and take it to her."

"Yes sir."

"Rush!" He urged.

Ruby quickly made her way to the staff washroom and them to the kitchen without paying a ounce of attention to her path. Her mind was rather focused on the person she was supposed to serve. While the older Schnees were stone cold and intolerant to anything but perfection, she quickly learned their preferences and mannerisms, and especially, how to behave around them.

But their youngest daughter still remained a mystery to the brunette. In the month she worked at the manor she barely saw the white haired girl, and even when she did it was only for brief instants before the girl slipped away and returned to her privacy. She always seemed distant and almost completely silent, speaking only when asked. Ruby had no reason to expect the girl to be any less rigid than her parents, but the complete inexperience on how to behave near her made Ruby all the more nervous.

That, allied to her heaving eyes and aching legs only made the fine pieces of china on her tray to tinkle even louder as she made her way up the stairs and to the door of her destination - for an instant, _doom_ flashed as a fine replacement for the last word.

With a deep, calming breath Ruby balanced the tray in one hand and used the other to knock three times.

"Come in" A soft voice came from the other side of the door. There wasn't a single drop of threat in it, but the sound only made Ruby swallow drily as she reached for the doorknob.

The door swung open without a sound revealing a very... Impersonal space, not much to her surprise. It was admittedly warmer the the rest of the house - literally and figuratively - but nowhere near what would be expect of the room of a girl of her age. Definitely way different to Ruby's own bedroom. And bigger, but that could go unsaid.

There was a very soft instrumental tone filling the air and her eyes quickly surveyed the space for the source. A laptop on top of a writing desk, with the woman she was supposed to serve sitting in front of it. Her eyes instinctively avoided the girl's gaze, realizing she probably looked around the whole room right in front of her, an attitude she had been scolded for on her very first day at the manor.

"You can place it by the table" She instructed.

Feeling her palms sweating and her heart speeding up, Ruby felt an urge to get this over with and leave as soon as possible, not wanting to be scolded for such a foolish mistake on their very first interaction. That would be her demise.

She hurried her steps towards the indicated table. Now, it could be due to her earlier distraction, the new environment, her growing nervousness or the crushing exhaustion. Maybe a combination of all of those, but the reason didn't really matter when her foot caught in the back of the other, sending her crashing straight into the ground.

To her eyes she fell in slow motion, hopping with every fiber of her being that the fall would be enough to kill her.

It wasn't, and the sound of breaking porcelain was thunderous on her ears. This was it. This was the best paying job she managed to get as an inexperienced college junior and she had just ruined it. She so desperately needed the money from this and now she had just thrown it into the ground along with her sorry face.

At first the brunette was speechless, looking wide-eyed at the aftermath of shattered pieces and spilled liquid.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry ma'am!" was the first thing she managed to splutter.

"I-I'm so sorry" She repeated, while she desperately trying to gather the broken pieces.

What would she say to her sister? 'Sorry sis, lost my job because I tripped on _my own god damn foot_ '. Yang would do nothing but comfort her, but that didn't change their reality.

"I-I pr-promise this will never happen again ma'am, please forgive me!" she managed to plead, knowing very well the look of disgust that probably marked the younger Schnee expression.

Ruby wouldn't even dare to look up right now, instead focusing on cleaning the mess she had created. Her shaking hands failed her, making hard even to pick the biggest pieces. At some point her vision also became clouded by unshed tears.

With her ongoing streak of small failures and reprimands, Ruger wouldn't think twice before sending her home. The Schnees accepted nothing but perfection, and if one of them had questioned the man about the quality of his team, that small meeting had been the first and only warning they would get.

"Miss please I-" She started again, not really sure where her words were headed until a soft hand reached for and stilled her shaking one.

Ruby looked up and met the icy-blue gaze maybe for the first time. At least, the first time from this close.

Her blue eyes had the same unique, imposing tone from her parents, a genetic Schnee exclusive. The snow-white hair, the perfect features marked only by a pink scar across her left eye. No one could question her heritage. But her expression…

When Ruby looked up, she was not met with the so expected distaste and reprobation. Instead the girl was… Worried?

"Calm down, it was just an a accident" The girl said with a soothing tone, much to Ruby's disbelieve.

She was now staring intently into those ice-blue eyes. Ruby expected to be scolded, to be called out for the stupidity and incompetence and then thrown to the street, never to be told to 'calm down'.

"I'm sorry ma'am, I'll clean this right away" She answered, breaking the eye contact and returning to the task beneath her, but the soft hand refused to let go of her own.

"No, it's ok. Go rest, I'll deal with this." She said, finally breaking the far too extended contact and looking away.

Ruby stood up unsure of what to do before being given another nod to leave, which she promptly obeid.

She was at a loss, having absolutely no idea of what to expect of it. The girl's reactions couldn't have been further what she expected. Ruby expected to be shouted at, to told to go home and never comeback right there and than. Honestly, when she step into the staff room she expected to find Ruger waiting for her, consumed in fiery rage.

Instead, she found the man speaking in an unusually calm tone.

"Ms. Livy, please go to Miss Schnee's room, she had an accident with her tea and needs someone to cleanup" He instructed. "Oh, there you are Ms. Rose, good job tonight."

"Uh, thank you sir?" She answered hesitant.

"Ms. Violet won't be able to make it tomorrow again. Would you like to take her shift?"

"Yes sir, I would love to!"

She wasn't sure what the girl had told the staff, but for whatever reason she lied on her behalf. Weiss was her name, not that they had been even introduced.

After a month at the manor and even longer working at fancy parties and reunions, she thought to have a very clear picture of the ones on the high society: Rich, beautiful, proud, snob and with little to no regard for those "beneath" them. Her brief encounter with the youngest Schnee made her reconsider the picture.

Her trip back home was uneventful as always, a fierce battle to stay awake and not sleep past her stop. She done it before and had no desire to repeat the experience of walking over a kilometer alone this late.

Ruby entered the small apartment and threw her keys on the table, ready fall on her bed and give into Morpheus' embrace, but as soon as she remove her shoes her phone buzzed in life. A call she would never miss, no matter how tired she was.

Ruby took a deep breath to lift her spirits before picking up.

"Hey sis" she chirped "How was today?"

"Hey Rubes! Ah you know… Same as always. The doctors kept coming in, writing things and leaving again."

Yang's voice seemed distant and groggier than usual.

"Anyways, they got me under this new med now and said I'ld feel really sleep and since it's getting late and you didn't call… Are you busy now?"

"No, no, I just got home actually."

"Oh…" She could feel the mood tuning even lower, if that was possible. "Working late again?"

"Yah, but don't worry, got an extra shift at the ice castle." - a more than adequate nickname - "Nights are pretty calm there."

"Rubes you shoul-"

"So, good news today?" She cut her sister, not wanting to go into the old subject one more time.

"'Hopefully tomorrow'..." she mimicked in a tired voice.

Same as always.

An uncomfortable silence settled on the line, neither of them knowing or having what to say. Yang tried first.

"So… You had a test today right? How was it?"

"Oh it was fine! Pretty easy actually."

She hated this.

"Cool, at least things are going fine in college. I don't even wanna think about all the classes I'll have to take again…". Ruby chuckled for her sister's sake.

Ruby hated doing this _so much_.

"Hey… This new thing is really weighing on me. I should go before I pass out on the phone."

"No prob sis, good night!"

"Good night Rubes... Hopefully tomorrow, right?"

" _Definitely_ tomorrow"

The call clicked and Ruby just set there for while before turning to sleep.

She hated it, but she had to do it. For her sister.

* * *

 **Hello guys, welcome to my latest work! This one has been in the brewing for quite a while now, with admittedly isn't all that much with my tight schedule, but I do have a few chapters written ahead this time! Release schedule should be of two chapters per month.**

 **As you can see this is a complete AU, so a took some literary freedom to change a few compositions established on Volume 4, mostly due to the lack of information we have so far. Hopefully you will enjoy to read this as much as i'm enjoying to write!**

 **Finally, this work is a big leap from my comfort zone when it comes to the english language, so if you spot anything strange, have any comments or suggestions, please let me know!**

 **As always, please review!**

 _ **Hugs,**_

 _ **Scribe Assistant**_


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